KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 16 LSU softball team lost a 6-1 decision to No. 18 Tennessee to conclude the regular season in Sunday’s rubber game at Lee Stadium.
LSU (42-13, 20-8 SEC) faces Kentucky in a Thursday quarterfinal match-up to open the SEC Tournament at Bogle Park on the University of Arkansas campus. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. and will be televised by ESPN U with Cara Capuano and Michele Smith anchoring the coverage.
“Of course, this isn’t the way we want to finish the regular season, but the bottom line is we did secure a third place finish in the conference,” head coach Yvette Girouard said. “There were no bats and we certainly didn’t have enough good pitching to be successful today. Credit Tennessee, they made adjustments and we didn’t.”
The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 edge in the first inning as Kirsten Shortridge worked a base-on-balls, stole second and came around to score on an Ashley Applegate RBI-single through the middle.
Rachel Mitchell added another walk and Anissa Young was hit-by-a-pitch to load the bases with one out. UT starting pitcher Ivy Renfroe regrouped and got Juliana Santos and Courtney Hollier to pop out.
“We had a chance to jump on them early, but let that opportunity go by,” Girouard said. “That turned the game. It’s over with and the kids need to get focused on their final exams in the upcoming days. Once we get past that, it’s time to get locked in and play championship softball.”
The Lady Vols (41-12, 17-8 SEC) charged back with four runs in the third inning. Ashley Andrews coaxed a walk and Kat Dotson was hit-by-a-pitch to set the table for Kelly Grieve, who provided the equalizer with a RBI-double down the left field line.
On the play, Dotson was cut down at third base when Ashley Langoni fired a one-hopper to Jessica Mouse covering third base. Tennessee received a Lauren Gibson RBI-single and Jessica Spigner two-run double to go ahead 4-1 with two outs.
That closed the book on Rachele Fico, who was handed the loss for the first time in seven decisions dating back to April 7. She allowed four runs, three earned, on three hits to fall to 18-5 on the season.
The Lady Vols tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the sixth inning off reliever Cody Trahan. Melissa Brown smacked a RBI-double followed by a sacrifice fly from pinch hitter Shelby Burchell for the final margin of 6-1.
Renfroe surrendered only two hits and issued three walks against one strikeout after LSU scored in the first inning. She improved to 25-4 with the complete game effort.
All of LSU’s games at the SEC Tournament will be broadcasted on ESPN 104.5 and The X 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright and Kent Lowe set to call the action. Live stats also are available in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net along with in-game updates via http://twitter.com/lsu_softball.